A Quiet Night in the Dark in LaPlata, Missouri, 1942

Lester Dent is known today as the writer of the character Doc Savage, hero of a monthly magazine published from 1933 to 1949. Doc Savage -- Clark Savage, Jr. -- was the precursor to later popular heroes like Superman, James Bond, and Dirk Pitt. Dent's prose was published under a house name: Kenneth Robeson. So he was surprised when a visitor's story leads to deadly consequences in his quiet home.